ANOTHER Scottish public sector IT project has collapsed, sparking fears for the pensions of half a million former NHS workers, teachers, firefighters and police officers.

The Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) was forced to abandon its £6million contract with troubled outsourcing firm Capita in January after being hit by a litany of problems over the past three years.

Worryingly, the potential risk to thousands of pensioners was never disclosed to the public and the SNP Government praised the project even after a "significant number" of errors had emerged.

The total cost to taxpayers is not known but the SPPA has been forced to extend its contract with its current IT provider by three years, as well as paying for staff training, consultancy fees and additional software.

Related articles

Murdo Fraser, Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary, said: "These substantial errors within the SPPA’s IT system appear to have been known about for some time and yet Ministers have been praising progress and delivery.

“At best we have another SNP IT system failure that will cost taxpayers millions of pounds. At worst the payment of 500,000 pensions belonging to firefighters, teachers, police officers and NHS workers could now be in jeopardy.

“There doesn’t seem to be any limit to the IT incompetence of the SNP. Farmers have already suffered due to SNP mismanagement, now it’s pensioners.

“Most worryingly, this fundamentally undermines all the assurances we have heard that the SNP delivery of social security will be properly managed.”

The Agency launched the 'One SPPA' project in 2013 which included plans for an integrated computer system to administer its four big pension schemes.

It runs the £60billion NHS Superannuation Scheme, which has 235,000 members and 100,000 pensioners, and the £36billion Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme, which has 94,000 members and 78,000 pensioners.

Since the police and fire merger, it also now looks after police and firefighter schemes with 26,000 members and 20,000 pensioners in total.

The Capita contract was supposed to provide IT support for this new expanded role by March 2017.

However, a "significant number" of problems emerged within months of the contract being signed and by the autumn of 2016 it was clear the project would not be completed on time.

Despite these setbacks, the Scottish Government boasted in its 2016 budget statement: "This programme will deliver better digital services based on an integrated pension administration and pensioner payroll system."

By the end of last year, however, the roll-out of the new IT system was running two-and-a-half years behind schedule and a report by public spending Audit Scotland warned of the "significant financial, reputational and service delivery risk to the SPPA".

Now a whistleblower from the SPPA's Tweedbank headquarters in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, has revealed the entire project has been scrapped.

The source said: "The Agency has wasted millions of pounds over the past four years on a project to bring in a new pension system from Capita when there is nothing wrong with the present system.

Pensions: Everything you need to know

Wed, September 20, 2017

Pensions: Everything you need to know about your pension.

"After four years where people were promoted within a project team, consultants employed and new staff employed to backfill posts a decision has been made to abandon the project with members of the team being redeployed within the Agency and keeping the promotions they received.

"I am sure someone in senior management would be happy to give you their version of events, although it will be nowhere near the truth. The Agency and Scottish Government should be held accountable and exposed for this public waste of money."

Yesterday, the Scottish Government confirmed the SPPA had terminated the contract but stressed that no pension payments were in danger.

An SPPA spokeswoman said: “Our focus, as it has been throughout this project, is to safeguard services for our customers, ensuring that pensions continue to be paid on time and that we support scheme members appropriately. Customers should be assured that SPPA will maintain the services that they provide."